Fantasy Grounds 5E db.xml character cycler OBS widget

[shadzar]

Now this is in alpha stages prototype, end design is still in the works, but a simple HTML widget that can be used in OBS, or in any browser that will read the db.xml file in the same directory of it and give stats on the characters in cycling "cards". for OBS for streaming it means i will give the characters on screen for people to always have the data provided directly from your FG campaign files itself, with no work except for placing the file int he campaign folder and load it into an OBS BrowserSource.

Workshop seemed the only place to put this since it does interact directly with FG files and must be present in the "campaigns/XXX/" folder to operate.



EDIT (2018-11-19):
It seems many people misunderstand the purpose of this widget and think it will be something else similar to another existing "device". So here is a preview from the Instruction Manual to set things straight, so people who don't watch streams will understand why this was created in the first place. For those that do watch streamed games of RPGs, you will understand this matches what 60% or more of streams have and what this tries to achieve.


https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/315176724402798592/514094755563569162/intro.jpg

Like Fantasy Grounds, nowhere does this state everything will be always fully automated. It is a tool with the purpose of replacing having to update images of character stats between streams. It gets the newest info one time when the stream begins and then displays that for the duration of the entire stream. Next stream it loads the newest data at that time. It isn't a health bar that updates every action during play for every character.

Those automatic health bars... They are already built into the FG Combat Tracker.


So how big an interest is there for this to be developed further? Is there a use outside of OBS and streaming for this sort of thing?


https://www.twitch.tv/videos/245191910

EDIT: video 2
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/245579674

less ugly, more pretty was requested so... maybe this is better?
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/245671445

now with transparent background to allow overlays to show through
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/246104556

upside-down dead
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/328897115

social media icons
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/334427956

Suggestions made: (quickly feasible ones) *added
*Social media handles

Discord
Patreon
Twitch
Twitter
YouTube

*inverted character image for unconscious characters
*static display BRB scene showing all characters in smaller cards. (new project Coming Soon™)

Suggestions that will not exist:
*Automatic reload. (see full video description https://www.twitch.tv/videos/337953150)

[LordEntrails]

Interesting, but I would think it might be better to just have a character health bar on each streamers portrait (for their character). You might include a star for inspiration and maybe effect icons, but that might be tough. (I think full stats are too much info, takes up way to much screen space. And viewers would probably want to be able to glance at the health of the PC's at any given time (though maybe they just view the CT?)

[Oberoten]

This is certainly interesting. Could and should be a good addition if we go the streaming route someday.

- Obe

[shadzar]

if inspiration is tracked in the db.xml then it would be possible, and you would be surprised how much info on a character, and how little, some streams offer.

if it is data in the db.xml there for a character, then it can be used.

Also not everyone shows the CT in streams, it really gets in the way of a stream more than it gets in the way of the game. for a player to just play then all the stuff on FG can be moved around, but real estate on a stream means you have to put FG in a corner of the full screen and have room for cam(s), bit boss thing to interact with your donators and subscribers, now playing list from spotify... and everything else in your overlay. Which this widget would be, outside of the FG real estate and in part of the rest of the overlay.

other things possible are you could replace the class names with icons, level numbers with a d20 with the level number facing up, etc...

VERY early stages since it functions, the "make it look pretty" should be the last in the design line because form follows function. and i has a chance for customization on a user by user case beyond the generic default.

There is still a setup file to be created also to pick which details about the character to provide, background options, font choices, etc.... but before getting into all that. i wanted to know if there was serious interest as i have wasted my time making widgets for people that they never bothered to use, or never let me finish, so i figured this time i would make something for NOBODY and see if anyone wanted it. :D

and the healthbars, well that functionality is currently proprietary to someone in another widget, so cannot be included; but this CAN show health as current HP / totalHP, again, if it is on a character with a token assigned in the db.xml it can be used. the sky is the limit.


This is certainly interesting. Could and should be a good addition if we go the streaming route someday.

- Obe

What things do you think you would include in the design from the available character info?

[shadzar]

latest and probably last version. already has a style sheet for it that can be edited, or obviously stick with the default style of fonts, etc.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/246841785

[ItsCliffGaming]

Shadzar, is there a place to download this?

[st4lk3r87]

I'm very interested on this! I'd like to know where I can download it!

[LordEntrails]

Shadzar hasn't posted in awhile. You might drop him a PM so he gets an email and see if you can get a response. You might also check out his Twitch channel and see if you can reach him that way.

[mlesnews]

Hey shadzar (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/member.php?108479-shadzar), that is a wonderfully helpful widget, I'd be interested in seeing how this develops. Ideally, for me at least, I'd like to be able to choose [X] stats, along with a verbose or minimalist display of one or more players and DM block. Hopefully, our responses inspire you and we hope that you come back!

[shadzar]

there is a problem with recent updates for showing the character portrait, so since it is a main request for people with OBS overlays, i want to try to fix it before any full release.

IF it works fully in ANY form, it will appear first in use on https://www.twitch.tv/geoquester, when he is happy it is stable. hopefully it will work for FGC and not have to wait for FGU to function.

thanks for the interest from those here and contacted me on Twitch, i will get it worked out when i can have a chance to go over the new updates in FGC since last i was working with it.

then after it works properly, i will add more customization options so it isnt just bland looking and hopefully can match people's stream overlays, unless the default FG style is what is most preferred since it only works (almost) for FG.


never really left, just had other things take precedent since i can't fully test this alone with the free version of FG. August just got me so busy i forgot to check a few websites for anything until the recent FG updates were called to my attention and the twitch requests to hurry the frick up getting this out. :p

Please explain how you vision this minimalist vs verbose display?

[mlesnews]

My idea of minimalist would be along the lines of what LordEntrails mentioned, and verbose would be all available information (full stats). Perhaps a mixture? For my OBS overlay, I like the idea of seeing each player, their discord name/character name, whether they have inspiration or not. Here is a rough idea, inspired by anothers overlay I saw.

https://i.imgur.com/dX1lldK.png

[st4lk3r87]

I'd really love if you release this totally open source and leave to people the customization option. I don't know how this is actually implemented.

[shadzar]

each player, their discord name

there is a problem with this. FG does not store Discord names as a default for 5e character sheets. Someone alsked off-site about twitter handles and such also, but again, this is not something FG supports in the db.xml where this data is all acquired from. since it is autosaved every 5 or 15 minutes or something, so any changes made during play would be updated live as FG resaves the data with a simple widget refresh.

i fully understand the need, but by default FG doesn't support a "2nd player name" for 5e characters. :cry:

[LordEntrails]

there is a problem with this. FG does not store Discord names as a default for 5e character sheets. Someone alsked off-site about twitter handles and such also, but again, this is not something FG supports in the db.xml where this data is all acquired from. since it is autosaved every 5 or 15 minutes or something, so any changes made during play would be updated live as FG resaves the data with a simple widget refresh.

i fully understand the need, but by default FG doesn't support a "2nd player name" for 5e characters. :cry:
Why not just parse the Notes field of the character sheet for a standard something like "Social Name: Xyz"?

[Moon Wizard]

Or bundle an extension to add extra fields.

JPG

[shadzar]

if it was going to be an extension it could just appear as part of FG itself...

this is just made to read the db.xml and put the data into an OBS widget.

if someone else can and wants to make an extension to do it within FG, then it will not be independent of FG to fit in the OBS overlays, and people would just have to make sure to not cover up that space with other parts f the overlay.

this thing really is just an XML reader and parses it into a table. fast and simpe. FG could add a 2nd player name field to its default sheets also, then there would be data to read. ;)

[shadzar]

Why not just parse the Notes field of the character sheet for a standard something like "Social Name: Xyz"?

that would be possible so long as the players didnt keep their own notes there. i will have to check a newer saved campaign hen i get one to see if it will parse simply enough to just pull that from the notes field.

is there a place on the 5e character sheet that a DM can write and the players cannot that goes to the db.xml during autosave, so it is guaranteed to have the correct data without extraneous stuff in it? if that exists, then the DM could put anything and it could even parse to the social media icons for various things like Twitter, Facebook, etc. otherwise it would have to be simple and jsut text ont he screen from the data.

[LordEntrails]

that would be possible so long as the players didnt keep their own notes there. i will have to check a newer saved campaign hen i get one to see if it will parse simply enough to just pull that from the notes field.
Don't take the whole notes field, just a portion of it (i.e. look for a specific string and then take everything after that until a space or another specific string. BUT, I'm not a coder, only know enough to be dangerous :)


is there a place on the 5e character sheet that a DM can write and the players cannot that goes to the db.xml during autosave, so it is guaranteed to have the correct data without extraneous stuff in it? if that exists, then the DM could put anything and it could even parse to the social media icons for various things like Twitter, Facebook, etc. otherwise it would have to be simple and jsut text ont he screen from the data.
No :(
At least not that I know of.

[shadzar]

that would be possible so long as the players didnt keep their own notes there. i will have to check a newer saved campaign hen i get one to see if it will parse simply enough to just pull that from the notes field.
Don't take the whole notes field, just a portion of it (i.e. look for a specific string and then take everything after that until a space or another specific string. BUT, I'm not a coder, only know enough to be dangerous :)

that is the right track, the problem is the players... if it was like BBcode, then a player edits something wrong and it gets screwed up and would just end up being discarded and not display on screen.

@FredFlintstone for example would be really easy to mess up just forgetting the / or spelling the site wrong in either the opening or closing tags.

[LordEntrails]

that is the right track, the problem is the players... if it was like BBcode, then a player edits something wrong and it gets screwed up and would just end up being discarded and not display on screen.

@FredFlintstone for example would be really easy to mess up just forgetting the / or spelling the site wrong in either the opening or closing tags.
I get it. If that's a big enough concern, then would have to go with Moon Wizards suggestion.

[shadzar]

ok, i was trying to not bring this up, but streamers are a target of trolls or worse, if you saw the recent events about Dr Disrepect, etc.

The character sheets a DM can control a bit by not bringing them up or haing them off screen in case a rogue player puts something on it that shouldn't be on streams. this prevents the streamer from getting banned because someone else. sure they can post things in chat, and it doesn't happen often in D&D stream as others, and probably less in Fantasy Grounds streams since there are so few of them, and less that accept random players they havent met before or spent too much time with.

N-word could easily be put in by a player via "notes" section or an FG extension, and that is something that could be seen by a DM going over a character sheet before it appears on stream, but being an OBS overlay, this thing wouldnt give much time to review the contents with how much work it already takes to make a stream, especially for D&D>

you have to get everyone there, the mics, cameras all adjusted, etc. you might not have tie t look for that troll.

Now this wont affect people that much that only play with people that they know, but not all streamers stream games only that way. some have impromptu game. again someone you dont know too well, even if they have for example tourettes and just blurt out [racial slur] can get a stream on most streaming site instantly banned for no fault of the streamer.

having something like that showing in the overlay, would not be any different.

This is why i thought of a place only the DM can edit for this, otherwise it would require the image cards most people use on slideshow for the streamer to add those other social media sites t their own overlay and then if they add something not appropriate it is their own fault.

Yes this problem exists in the very nature of FG where the DM has no control over the players name they sign into a table with.

But i would prefer if there is a more secure way, or to just leave it out of this app and those social media things be added manually to an overlay. it is bad enouh with the donation and tipping systems used to show as alerts on streams people do this and you cannot screen these things before they appear on streams, but adding an extra level that isn't normally checked by a DM or streamer that already has the most work being a multiperson stream that must be coordinated, and FG only having 1 DM per game access so another person cannot monitor or check these things via another computer while the DM is setting up the stream just adds more work over those people that just load up video game A and start streaming desktop capture of the game, or let their console use the built in streaming feature, etc.

again this is why the "DM only can write to and save to the db.xml" was mentioned above in regards to being able to add social media handles. give the trolls and inch, and they will take Normandy Beach... or whatever the saying is.

does FG have any sort of word filters built in to blacklist words from being added to character sheets in FGC? will FGU have these things for future-proofing it towards the streaming environment? is there an extension that blocks words in character sheets, or can be set to the correct language to appear on screen?

I sure as heck wouldn't want to write it for a simple XML reader like this for every offensive word variation and end up being laughed at like EA for banning the term "white man" as a racist term. I suspect FG isnt built well enough for streaming an such isnt even planned for FGU for the same reason, it jut takes a LONG time to accommodate for such things, and FG is intended really to play with people you know well, and not intended to be streamed since it was built prior to streaming, and probably doesnt have any of that thought about for FGU either.

If you have a place that has every word, leet-speak, etc for each language that i can drop in to prevent any sort of racial or other slurs showing in this XML reader widget, then i will grab it and d my best to add it and hope it doesnt grind the widget to a halt due to OBS scripting limitations.

sad, but that is the world we live in that this sort of thing has to be considered where "streaming" is concerned. another reason i backed away from this for a while to see whih way the wind was blowing in disruptive elements in streams, and they seem to be growing or going through a cycle of getting removed, making new accounts, and coming back with a new account, repeat... but haven't shown much sign of slowing since the streaming sites don't do anything to help protect streamers, but will gladly ban for any sort of racial slight, or other, even unintended hate speech. which hat speech already can be a part of D&D depending on how one's world and citizenships within are set up, vis a vis Legolas/Gimli initial hate scenario.

i could add something that scans a charsheet field, find the typo, fixes it for broken tags, and then removes any "blacklisted" terms, but would need that list of ALL the terms since i am not up on my PC culture to know what words offend everyone all the time or even some people some of the time across all languages.

[shadzar]

There is maybe another way to do it, but does FG forums here or the website have an API that allows people to get data from a user like their twitter handle directly from FG forums like Youtube and Twitch, etc allow access to non-private data? i would think not, since to even search the forums it requires signing into them unless you use a normal google external search. that way the widget could just ask for "Player A", get "social media sites" and have Smiteworks itself as a layer of protection against such mischief. though that also would be a pain to write for for this old vBulletin setup i doubt it would offer anything like that just to get a twitter handle from a signed in user, it would probably have to come via signing in with FG like FG itself checks everything to let someone connect to each others tables...

so it would again have to be built into FG.. and that idea wouldnt work then...


now i see why most people just add social media to streams as pictures the streamer can control since they rarely update like character stats.

[Bidmaron]

I hope Smiteworks doesn’t waste time with any of this.

For those that feel like they have to stream because of some kind of narcissistic impulse, they deserve what they get if they don’t password protect their game or give their password out to someone who attempts to sign in with an offensive screen name.

Where there is a marketing advantage to sponsoring a stream or two — well, you should only do that for people who run games suitable for public consumption and that are run professionally enough to attract sales.

Heck, this is role playing for God’s sake. Some of my evil NPCs if I were to run a World War II game (not my thing) might very well use a term that would get a streamer banned. For that matter, some of the good guys might (e.g. we had a very common short name for enemy Japanes troops that is highly uncomplementary today) as well.

I shudder to think of the complexity of the interface that would try to define what should be screeened in English, let alone the myriad of other languages.

The thing I just totally don’t get about this streaming insanity is why does it have to be real time? Most of the problems wouldn’t exist if you recorded the session and then went back and edited it into something people might want to actually watch for more than a couple microseconds.

[shadzar]

The thing I just totally don’t get about this streaming insanity is why does it have to be real time?

because that is what LIVE broadcast means... DansGame

otherwise just upload a video to YT. Ask Dave Middleton (thedigitalDM) why he does it and why a Smiteworks employee is currently streaming B&W movies in the D&D category on Twitch which may be in copyright violation for their country of origin, or the EU Copyright Directive that passed today?

but i think you answered the question to that


those that feel like they have to stream because of some kind of narcissistic impulse

others just want to be able to share their game, or have to play online with things like FG anyway due to not living close enough to people that thy want to play with so might as well stream it and try to make a few bucks.

Not every streamer is a wannabe Critical Role some just want to share their games.

as for Smiteworks wasting time adding streaming built in options to FG... well that will only give people more incentive to use roll20 if it doesn't since the future is here and streaming isnt going away. either FG can, what was the saying people used for D&D 5e and 4e promotion... "evolve or die"?

BF5 banned the term Nazi in chat though half the players will be playing them, so yeah D&D hate speech can get as bad or worse than real since people want to compare stange parables to fantasy and real life, but there is a bit of leadway given at least on Twitch for that when it is IN CHARACTER and clearly contained that way. but you have many valid points there still.

[shadzar]

ok, i dont like setup files because nobody reads instructions, but giving thought so that a DM/streamer can control the text and add it to stream with this, what about something like a simple CSV that is read in addition to the db.xml like this...




player name, player login, social media
Bidmaron, bidmaron(FGCon), Twitter: Bidmaron
LordEntrails, Big E, Facebook: LordEntrails

Where player login is the name used to log into the FG table for the game.

this would require the DM setting up the player names to match the login names and knowing exactly what social media and handle they are adding? and in place of the Twitter: it would show the twitter icon, if EUCD allows such things after the recent and future votes?


is that too much work for the DM?

[celestian]

For those that feel like they have to stream because of some kind of narcissistic impulse, they deserve what they get if they don’t password protect their game or give their password out to someone who attempts to sign in with an offensive screen name.

I enjoy watching people that stream. It is a good way to learn some tips/tricks and for people who don't know how to play the game a way to watch it. I don't think it's ALL narcissistic impulses. There are certainly those types but I don't watch them ;) I am glad some people can put together a stream and that they let us watch, live or not. I don't watch a lot of them and 90% of them are AD&D because I like the game more.

I'd like to try it someday if only to get suggestions/ideas from other folks that watched for my games. It also would allow me to have a copy of the sessions so if I want to go back or a player missed a session it can reviewed.

As to assholes online, that is a problem everywhere, not just streamers. kick/ban and done.

[LordEntrails]

is that too much work for the DM?
Not if they want the overlay :) Seems pretty simply to me. Though I may suggest tying to the character name not player name, since that is stable and can be verified by the GM.

[Bidmaron]

I hear you, celestian. I am just not sure what value is added by it being live and with all the dead time (chip breaks, head breaks, etc) that goes into a real game. I don't see the need for real time. An edited video is just so much more efficient for the viewer (and a decent edit makes the video more efficient). Of course, it is more work for whoever makes the video....

With FG, there isn't much excuse if your reason to stream is so an out-of-area player can jump in on the action because if he can watch a stream, as long as he has access to a computer, he can simply join the game as a spectator. (for that matter, he could play an NPC for a little while and get even more bang for his buck!)

I feel like I'm just missing the point. Obviously, a lot of folks do it, but why?

[damned]

Editing a video often takes much longer than the initial recording time.
Better streamers get their act together and run tight games without the silences/awkward stuff by way of lots of practice and by setting strict parameters for those involved.
Streaming can be interactive with the cast taking some cues from their audience.

There are plenty of reasons to stream.
This thread is not about reasons not to stream.

[shadzar]

I feel like I'm just missing the point. Obviously, a lot of folks do it, but why?

Since administration feels this would deserve its own thread, i am sure many people will be happy to discuss it if one is made. i will even chime in there as well with some things i was going to put here but will save for a thread dedicated to it.

also I will suggest to @rob2e and FGC about a video "why to live stream FG" for "All Thing Fantasy Grounds" talk show in the future.


Not if they want the overlay :) Seems pretty simply to me. Though I may suggest tying to the character name not player name, since that is stable and can be verified by the GM.

i thought the player name was on mlesnews little examples, but character name works also. could limit it that way to "present" characters in case of absentee players also. Jeff couldnt make it to the meeting in the tavern because Susie wasnt able to make it to the game tonight to play him, so he jsut slept late in the inn and missed the meeting and the cards just dont have Jeff showing that night. :confused:

(names not related to any person(s) past, present, future, or imaginary.)



character name, social
would be the setup template if no player name needed and only the social name will be on the output tables.


Editing a video often takes much longer than the initial recording time.

Think some of the popular youtubers say for a simple polished video it is 8 hours of recording and editing for a 30 minute video... i dont even want to know how much time the 9 slices video took you with that many scene transitions. mine are so bad because it is just a simple OBS record, crop and upload.

[damned]

Since administration feels this would deserve its own thread, i am sure many people will be happy to discuss it if one is made. i will even chime in there as well with some things i was going to put here but will save for a thread dedicated to it.

also I will suggest to @rob2e and FGC about a video "why to live stream FG" for "All Thing Fantasy Grounds" talk show in the future.



i thought the player name was on mlesnews little examples, but character name works also. could limit it that way to "present" characters in case of absentee players also. Jeff couldnt make it to the meeting in the tavern because Susie wasnt able to make it to the game tonight to play him, so he jsut slept late in the inn and missed the meeting and the cards just dont have Jeff showing that night. :confused:

(names not related to any person(s) past, present, future, or imaginary.)



would be the setup template if no player name needed and only the social name will be on the output tables.



Think some of the popular youtubers say for a simple polished video it is 8 hours of recording and editing for a 30 minute video... i dont even want to know how much time the 9 slices video took you with that many scene transitions. mine are so bad because it is just a simple OBS record, crop and upload.

If you are happy to discuss both ends of the debate go for it - my interjection was mostly because i felt (rightly or wrongly) that the post was mostly negative without adding anything to the conversation. Happy to be wrong.

Dont use my videos as examples - Im terrible at it and still trying different methods to find something that works for me and for viewers.
But yes - it takes me far longer than Id like to do all the editing to keep something concise and usable.

[shadzar]

oh there probably will be negative, because streaming is a thing that i guess has to grow on you, or you are a person just sick of the crap on TV and have to seek other things not fueled by Hollywierd.

Reasons some people have streamed D&D that i have visited frequently...

1. promote a product, and interact live with the viewers. this could be a new RPG, new adventure, Fantasy Grounds, etc.

2. to promote their game because they lack players. be it roll20 or FG there is only a small pool to pull from for new players as most already have games that use those and other programs from their own forums. Twitch and YT live streaming gives you a chance to bring in new people to YOUR game or the game in general.

3. people are voyeurs.. if you stream it they will view. which can tie into the initial narcissistic thing where some people want to be watched/adored. (see Critical Role)

4. they just have nothing else better to do. streaming sites allow you to record your game in good quality FOREVER without having to have the space or other services for storage. either for review of the game to make sure you keep consistent rulings, or a player forgot something that happened, or just for a player that missed a game. could even be a player is somewhere they cant connect with any VTT but still can use a phone so can watch the game with minor delay and play via the streams chat. i have seen that at least twice. once a person wasnt home, and another time a person was without internet.

personally i have no interest in streaming, i upload or stream things relevant like KS has videos.. commercials basically for things since these OBS widgets need to show how they would work, how else would someone see it, a GIF?

this is obviously mostly RP related but can extend to other streaming, but i rarely partake of those sorts of streams where it isnt a conversation with either he streamer or the other viewers about something. i can just listen to something on TV for background noise and do something else if there is a need for background noise.

you have one streamer i follow that was doing the whole live video thing and caused stress to weaken his DM abilities because dealing with getting a stream ready. that changed and he became an audio podcast show to just share his groups "performances" with other people, since there are those people that wants to think they are some sort of TV or movie celebrity from streaming (again see Critical Role).

so i can see your reluctance, bidmaron, as well celestian's intrigue about streaming.

the most judgement i can pass on a live stream is if it interests me to watch and participate and enough of the ones i DO watch use FG, so if FG won't supply, and roll20 wont supply, and MAptool wont supply any sort of streaming aid for their VTTs, i can offer where i can to do so, and only FG is so easy to "backdoor" into the game information since it is jsut XML, it makes it easiest to get into the data to retrieve for output on a stream. roll20, the API exists, but isnt for external use, only for use within the roll20 table itself, and everything in MAptool is a JAR and FG can play poke and prod ZIP files for data all it wants to, but i aint got time for that, so i will go for the uncompressed data streams that are local to get the games data.

hopefully that doesn't change for FGU and it still saves the game as XML so this should be an evergreen widget.... once it finally works right and will show images of the characters correctly and not be relegated to text only character stats. cause i can never read names on the FG tokens on the map to see what any character is unless the combat tracker is showing, and most DMs dont show the combat trackers on stream when they stream the game.

any other questions about streaming, or any streamers wish to chime in with other reason to stream a game on FG, or in general, sure thats fine since there is so few places to discuss streaming on these forums.

then i will read while trying to get the widget fixed and not have to respond to every idea that comes up to test during the night while i cant sleep :D

oh one more thing i am reminded since damned does do videos as mentioned....

5. when it takes more time to edit things, you still need to record them, and for his type of image tutorial you could stream it live and get live questions from any audience to help improve the tutorial in real time quicker than say edit a video, upload to youtube, post in a forum, wait for comments, go back edit the video.. you can work on the final product kinks before having to do all that extra editing.

6. and there is the talk show, people just discuss D&D and were doing it before that Chris Tito guy on the DnD stream was doing it. ask DM questions about how they would do something, ask players questions about how to interact with people in certain game related situations or whatever the topic of discussion is.. then the live stream just becomes a video format forums like these forums, where at least one person is talking with audio and has some imagery to look at like GeoQuester with Legends and Lore for better gaming and DMing, Rob2e with ATFG where the FGC crew offer tips tricks and other things to get people using FG more efficiently and exchange ideas that creates new extensions from people like Gwydion, celestian, and a few others i have seen around streams; then everyone else gets the use of those extensions that some random person on a live stream came up with an idea for.


Afterthought: i guess there is also the Fantasy Grounds Fridays show on Twitch that is also like a talk show too... completely forgot about that one. :p

[Bidmaron]

Thanks for the summary, shadzar. As I progress on the work I am doing I may pulse you again because it will help you in your quest I think.

[shadzar]

wasnt n a quest that i knew of, but if it helped explain one person's views of why people stream, than it was all good. i am sure many others have other reasons to stream and will debate those "negative elements" more with you. but i doubt the porn problem will present itself in MOST D&D streams unless "facecams" are placed in the wrong place...

"Hey streamer girl, your eyes are up here, not down there where the camera is pointing." ;)

[mlesnews]

i thought the player name was on mlesnews little examples, but character name works also. could limit it that way to "present" characters in case of absentee players also. Jeff couldnt make it to the meeting in the tavern because Susie wasnt able to make it to the game tonight to play him, so he jsut slept late in the inn and missed the meeting and the cards just dont have Jeff showing that night. :confused:

(names not related to any person(s) past, present, future, or imaginary.)


What one would like to see or what works for one persons, varies depending one's certain point of view. I would say shadzar, stay true to what you want. I see mini cards for each player, which can be done via photoshop in part or in full, with OBS objects on top of images. Your widget is a single card that cycles a single player and their information.

Jumping ahead to other things mentioned later in the thread. I personally wanted to stream to perserve a record of playing, both for myself and my players. I can see streaming can easily take away from the main objective of playing the game not only for the dm but, more importantly from the players.

For me at least, even setting up four players, that may or may not be the same players week to week takes me a significant amount of time. Not only do I need to manually setup grabbing each portrait dimensions in individual OBS objects, then do the same with what spot they fall into in the discord channel, and finally match both the same person. If someone drops out of FG, Discord or both, it is going to show up in the live stream. The only thing I could possibly forsee is being able to parse some or most of that XML infomation (player spot position in FG, and whether or not displaying character name and stats is desired or not) in such a way as to streamlining that setup process.

[shadzar]

oh i dont stream, dont use FG, and dont play 5e, so this in no way is for me, it was asked about by a few people, then a few more and they suggested maybe the whole of FG users might like a crack at it, so i shared it here for feedback, and have got some good ideas to further it. just need to find the way to do it best, without going TOO FAR. like customization of a table can be anything, but how much am i personally willing to do to meet every overlay theme need?

but a couple variants and let people change colors as they want isn't too much to ask.

and using the most used idea for cards made from image slideshows in OBS. i just whipped up something that did it with javascript to pull live data from the saved game in FG so people have instant updates without having to photoshop. just restarts the source with the widget in it, and refresh it and it updates directly from the db.xml including the chosen character or token image (if i can get that part working again).


so the most common features, with the easiest and streamlined method is what i was going for. and now thanks to a few i have an idea to get the social media there as well.


while i am waiting on a new campaign save to try to fix the character images issue,i can o ahead and work on the other parts. :)

for note the loading time you see in some of the videos was due to the automatic resizing of the character images. those not included with FG were about 600*60 and sized down to match the others, so it is all automatic to remove the need to photoshop anything except the character images if you need to add tokens to a game. everything not the character image is text via fonts... any font you would be able to choose from Google Fonts even. ;)

so it is basically the homogeneity of what the masses do want is what i am trying to make, since i have no use for this thing at all as i don't stream. :rofl:

[st4lk3r87]

oh i dont stream, dont use FG, and dont play 5e, so this in no way is for me, it was asked about by a few people, then a few more and they suggested maybe the whole of FG users might like a crack at it, so i shared it here for feedback, and have got some good ideas to further it. just need to find the way to do it best, without going TOO FAR. like customization of a table can be anything, but how much am i personally willing to do to meet every overlay theme need?

but a couple variants and let people change colors as they want isn't too much to ask.

and using the most used idea for cards made from image slideshows in OBS. i just whipped up something that did it with javascript to pull live data from the saved game in FG so people have instant updates without having to photoshop. just restarts the source with the widget in it, and refresh it and it updates directly from the db.xml including the chosen character or token image (if i can get that part working again).


so the most common features, with the easiest and streamlined method is what i was going for. and now thanks to a few i have an idea to get the social media there as well.


while i am waiting on a new campaign save to try to fix the character images issue,i can o ahead and work on the other parts. :)

for note the loading time you see in some of the videos was due to the automatic resizing of the character images. those not included with FG were about 600*60 and sized down to match the others, so it is all automatic to remove the need to photoshop anything except the character images if you need to add tokens to a game. everything not the character image is text via fonts... any font you would be able to choose from Google Fonts even. ;)

so it is basically the homogeneity of what the masses do want is what i am trying to make, since i have no use for this thing at all as i don't stream. :rofl:

Can't you just share what you have and let the community do crazy stuff with it? :D I'm pretty sure lot of users will start to help each other :)

[Skillkoil]

If you wanted to periodically have a player show up in a corner. BL or TR with all their stats / info that would be cool. Then for their portraits just have a bar or 33/55 type HP display and have little icons for effects. Turn portrait horizontal for "unconscious" have a "?" for confused etc... Just some thoughts. I really like this for streaming with OBS. I think it is nice to have a running HP system for battle that people can keep track of.

[shadzar]

If you wanted to periodically have a player show up in a corner. BL or TR with all their stats / info that would be cool. Then for their portraits just have a bar or 33/55 type HP display and have little icons for effects. Turn portrait horizontal for "unconscious" have a "?" for confused etc... Just some thoughts. I really like this for streaming with OBS. I think it is nice to have a running HP system for battle that people can keep track of.

lots of streams try to have little status and effect icons, like the ones FG and roll20 use, but on stream they are either too small, or non-unifrom so every stream you would have to answer 30 times for each new viewer what each status icon means...

Tiny HP bars dont really show up well, even Streamlabs most people put the numbers on the bar for goal like donations, subs, etc because the bar doesnt really tel people anything. most requested has been split a HP bar, or the numbers.

bars can be added later once the numbers all work right. :)

due to lack of features in FG, i know some streams that turn the character token upside down to show unconscious, and that wouldn't be hard to do with this. when wounds >= HP flip the image. i will try that just as soon as i get the character images working again.


Can't you just share what you have and let the community do crazy stuff with it? :D I'm pretty sure lot of users will start to help each other :)

i could, but it doesnt work since the characters got borked with a recent update. ;) awaiting a few files to try to get it back on track with updated characters and campaign as time allows, but currently a KS comes before this widget on the priority list :)

[st4lk3r87]

I have more questions. Do you inspect the DB.xml everytime? How do you force an update of the xml file?

[damned]

the db.xml is updated every 5mins automatically.
if the GM does a /save it also updates.

[shadzar]

to go with what damned said about the autosave...


I have more questions. Do you inspect the DB.xml everytime? How do you force an update of the xml file?

db.xml is checked on load of the widget.

in OBS there is a setting to refresh a source, and that will cause it to check the db.xml again. or you can use the setting "shutdown source when inactive" or something like that, i forget the exact wording, and when you click the eyeball to disable the source and click it again to enable the source, it will check the db,xml again.


shouldnt need to be refreshed often, only when you have some character update like characters level durign stream.


people earlier asking about the HP bar, there is a separate thing i am working on for HP bars that check the db.xml every 6 minutes and displays an HP bar to update HP as quickly as the db.xml autosaves... but that is no where near ready, and if the autoupdate of the stat cards were added it could attempt to read the db.xml while FG is trying to autosave and cause a conflict since it takes a minute to read all the data in about the characters, as opposed to just reading in HP and wounds.

you can see in the video how long it takes the widget to load and read the db.xml for just those 5 characters.


so it is possible to automatically reread the db.xml, but currently it is set for manual by reloading the source in OBS to force a reread of the db.xml each time the widget loads.


i am sure some python script could be written as an extension of OBS to make it manually reload the widget every so often, but i dont work with python and that would require someone else to create a script to reload a source in OBS.

everything seen on stream would exist only in RAM of OBS as the widget, when OBS is closed it is gone, and the widget will load and create the cards again the next time OBS is opened or the widget is visible.

[YAKO SOMEDAKY]

I like to see a tutorial, to make this cycler in obs, anyone has a link to do it?

[shadzar]

I like to see a tutorial, to make this cycler in obs, anyone has a link to do it?

it isn't ready yet. When it is ready it will be as simple as putting it in your campaign folder and adding it as a source to OBS, then resize it using OBS to fit where you want it in your overlay, just like any other source.

while i dont mind discussing streaming in general like helping answering those questions to Bidmaron, to explain how to use OBS, well that would need a new section on the FG forums for "Streaming FG" where other people can contribute to tips and tricks of how to use OBS, XSplit, GameShow, Bebo, etc. as there is too many streaming software packages to get into here in this thread.

Even techniques of using OBS is beyond the scope of this thread, since it is just adding a source to get the widget to work. If you don't already know how to add a source to OBS, this widget isn't going to help much sadly.

If there becomes a place for streaming related topics on FG forums, i will gladly share them there, but otherwise its all over the internet how to use OBS in general since so many people use it. :confused:

EDIT: here (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?24282-How-to-make-an-overlay-and-setup-OBS-for-streaming!) is the OBS overlay tutorial on the FG forums.

[shadzar]

25122

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=25122

so is this the base layout people would like?

mlesnews (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?43091-Fantasy-Grounds-5E-db-xml-character-cycler-OBS-widget&p=404336&viewfull=1#post404336) gave a few ideas
https://i.imgur.com/dX1lldK.png

but i need a best case people would like, to design this thing up.

tested fully with a empty game save with 2 characters both assigned, so the portraits are working again...

i just need to know the most popular layout, and most wanted stats.

Remember, dead/unconscious PCs will show upside down image, and there will be room for ONE social media per player in an extra file that will have to be manually edited.

social media file EXAMPLE:


social media,name
twitch,Rob2e
twitter,@FantasyGrounds2

within OBS you would be able to resize and scale just like anything else. so the only thing i need to know right now is the style of layout people would want most. after purchase (more details to come about that in the future), people will be able to reconfigure for personal use whatever stylings they prefer.

so get to Paint, Photoshop whatever to give me an idea, and if you can't draw character portraits, then a stick figure in place will be fine so i know what is what the section is.

[shadzar]

25125

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=25125

updated to include the social media, and upside-down-dead portrait.

[LordEntrails]

Looking promising. My concern with your layout is that it takes up a lot of space. i.e. lots of dead space in the bubbles and such. mlesnews' layout is pretty dark, but it's much more condensed.

Though it's probably pretty rare that their are more than 6 players, I would make sure their is room for at least 8 player sets without going to a 4k screen.

[shadzar]

make sure their is room for at least 8 player sets

not sure what this means... ??

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/328897115

[LordEntrails]

I see, I forgot that it cycles through the different player characters. I was thinking it would put displays/windows up for each character simultaneously. Size isn't that important then since their is only one of them.

[shadzar]

size wouldnt be important anyway since OBS allows you to stretch things with or without aspect ratio.

Though you have given me an idea to use mlesnews idea as a static thing to display all at once, but like a BRB screen. so i will go with the large one for ease of use, and try working on a portrait "business card" sized character display for showing more than one at once.

that would give time during breaks to save the campaign so the newest data is in the cycler widget from recent events during game, and when it reloads the cycler in the normal scene once the BRB has ended, it would have the up-to-date info on it.


that will come after since it will take a near total rewrite, so may get added at a later date to the cycler.

[shadzar]

now includes social media icons for: Twitch, Youtube, Twitter, Patreon.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/334427956

any other that are really important? like a player wouldn't have one of those?

[LordEntrails]

now includes social media icons for: Twitch, Youtube, Twitter, Patreon.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/334427956

any other that are really important? like a player wouldn't have one of those?
Discord?

[shadzar]

Discord?

oh FFS <facepalm> this is what i get for doing things late at night, i forget an obvious one. adding Discord now.
25273
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=25273

Any more?

[Ctmega]

I know I am late to the party here a bit... Is it possible for integration with the Discord Overlay so that when the person speaks in Discord that box lights up (Changes Color) or otherwise indicates activity? I know several of us now have clunky workarounds to get something similar but it would be awesome to have it all roll into one overlay. I am happy to provide details on how we do this now if you are interested.

Thanks!

[shadzar]

I know I am late to the party here a bit...

that would require static images rather than rotating ones. if i made the "boxes" for character stat show when each person speaks, that would just be a nightmare for viewers.

Also it seems many of those light-up discord overlays are not working recently.

The widget currently only reads data from the GM computer. I wouldn't know how to incorporate with discord without bogging down what it already does, or without bogging down OBS since it creates an active timer int he browser source that runs constantly. and too many browser sources scripts running can cause OBS browser source to crash, meaning people would lose EVERY browser source they have like stream alerts, goals, followers, donations, etc.

not ready to risk that sort of thing at this time.

I think Gwydion has a discord overlay thing, you might want to contact him and see what it has going there, and he can let me know what extra resources it would put on OBS and i will see about what can be done with the next version. :)

[Ctmega]

Thanks for the quick reply. I will get with Gwydion as you suggest but it's likely he is doing something similar to what I do now. Thanks for all of your hard work on this, I appreciate it!

[shadzar]

no problem. hopefully the discord lights things will all begin working again, and this will work properly with most common used extensions without breaking... though as you know, using any extension can break anything and is NOT suggested...

[Gwydion]

if inspiration is tracked in the db.xml then it would be possible, and you would be surprised how much info on a character, and how little, some streams offer.

if it is data in the db.xml there for a character, then it can be used.

Also not everyone shows the CT in streams, it really gets in the way of a stream more than it gets in the way of the game. for a player to just play then all the stuff on FG can be moved around, but real estate on a stream means you have to put FG in a corner of the full screen and have room for cam(s), bit boss thing to interact with your donators and subscribers, now playing list from spotify... and everything else in your overlay. Which this widget would be, outside of the FG real estate and in part of the rest of the overlay.

other things possible are you could replace the class names with icons, level numbers with a d20 with the level number facing up, etc...

VERY early stages since it functions, the "make it look pretty" should be the last in the design line because form follows function. and i has a chance for customization on a user by user case beyond the generic default.

There is still a setup file to be created also to pick which details about the character to provide, background options, font choices, etc.... but before getting into all that. i wanted to know if there was serious interest as i have wasted my time making widgets for people that they never bothered to use, or never let me finish, so i figured this time i would make something for NOBODY and see if anyone wanted it. :D

and the healthbars, well that functionality is currently proprietary to someone in another widget, so cannot be included; but this CAN show health as current HP / totalHP, again, if it is on a character with a token assigned in the db.xml it can be used. the sky is the limit.



What things do you think you would include in the design from the available character info?

Holy crap!!!! Can't believe I just found this. Yes, yes! I have a definite interest in this! I need to dive into this now to see how it works so I can provide feedback. Thanks so much for posting this, shadzar.

[Gwydion]

Ok. I've had a chance to read the whole thread now. Happy to provide input as this gets closer to launch as I will definitely be a user of it. Thanks so much for the effort that you've put into it to date.

[shadzar]

with every update to FG.. its a setback and rewrite...

waiting on 3.3.7 to drop to try rewriting this again...

if only FG made a file of just the characters it would be easier, but a "game" is saved with all the info in 1 "database" file.. which makes it more difficult. the larger that file is, the quicker it takes to read into OBS, which cause it to just stall.

maybe the next OBS will help with this since FG won't.

https://obsproject.com/blog/obs-progress-report-august-2018


What's next for the program
Making the program easier, and improving user experience

Access to service APIs from within the program

Maybe the new API will offer custom scripting that will allow to more easily read the FG save files without reaching Javascript timeout limits for larger save files with 100+ characters.

[celestian]

with every update to FG.. its a setback and rewrite...

waiting on 3.3.7 to drop to try rewriting this again...


I'm curious what you mean here? It's a XML file and the format within that combattracker/charsheet block doesn't change much at all.

The benefit to using XML is that almost everything can read/manipulate it and ignore what you don't need/want.

I'm not privy to whatever language you are writing this in but most languages have libraries to parse/manage xml. All you need to do is grab the ct node and get the variables necessary for your displays.

Just seems a bit of a hassle for you whenever they need to make updates to FG your tool breaks specially when the data you need does not change.

[Moon Wizard]

The data for the combat tracker did not change in v3.3.7.

Regards,
JPG

[shadzar]

The benefit to using XML is that almost everything can read/manipulate it and ignore what you don't need/want.

except windows 10 and web browsers have same-origin disabled. so the newest OBS isn't able to read, READ the db.db.xml file at all.... so it can't do anything with it.


The data for the combat tracker did not change in v3.3.7.

Regards,
JPG

is it still being saved as ASCII/ANSI text?

how about this to the both of you.. anyway FG can save another file? not the db.xml, but can an extension cause a different file to be saved in ASCII text?

Like how people are asking for "printable character sheet" can FG take the data within and save an HTML file somehow... can the export function be made to do that?

that was my original plan but someone told me the db.xml is the only save you get for campaigns and everything done internally goes inside that.

if i could just get FG to save a file, i could make not only the character sheet printable thing working form an extension (when i figure it out0, but also the widget thing as well.

i just can't find any documentation on what type of files FG can create or where it creates them in any functions... even a boring CSV text file.

[Moon Wizard]

There are no plans for alternate outputs at this time. Any other output can be built from the XML, so not sure I see the benefit of implementing something different at this point, especially given our limited resources and priorities.

Regards,
JPG

[shadzar]

Any other output can be built from the XML

not, they aren't because modern browsers don't allow same-origin in order to read local files without disabling the browsers security to protect users from malicious scripts.

so nothing can READ the XML files at all unless it is a program. OBS widgets, arent programs

if there was anything that could allow a user of FG to save any ASCII file with the name chosen like the exported does a ASCII text, then extensions could be written to export any data in HTML format form the character sheet.

and i say EXPORT an ASCII file, that way it follows FG export rules s a not to export protected data from protected modules.

it jsut needs to NOT be XML, because go try to open an XML with a browser and see what you get. it needs to be able to use browser code that makes it legible for humans, not an internal parser.

again, this would allow the creation by the community for "printable character sheets".. which is basically what this widget is is creating... but it doesnt work when people have the security in their browser on, and i would NOT advocate anyone to even disable that same-origin security in OBS to make this work, or anything else unless they already do so as a web developer.

people need something they can use their game save data or that isn't XML so they can read it, not so FG can read it. and export format that is plain text and has the same data as the db.xml would be human readable, not machine readable and allow for MANY more things people can do with FG game save... like reenter data from a corrupt game save by hand if need be.... print the game to a real piece of paper to store a physical copy of the save, make a WordPress with the character info, etc.

all this is blocked by FG saving only as XML and not some other type of file to allow formatting of plain text formats such as HTML output which a user could create their own data structure, if only FG would allow saving an HTML file then an extension could be coded to do all the HTML coding and stuff, and as with all extensions, they are use/create at your own risk... but saving the HTML wouldnt interfere with the db.xml because it would b a separate file, and now able to corrupt a game save, and is NEVER read in by FG.. just saved as a file for humans to read the game save data. :)

it shouldnt take a sketchy 3rd party program that wouldnt know what else it does when it runs, to read in the db.xml, and export an HTML file from it.... but that is the only thing available right now without FG supplying a way to save an HTML file from reading its own character sheet tables.

this would b the beginning of an actual API to FG.. whatever other people are calling an API, i have no clue because it is all internal program hooks... there is no external access to the data that would constitute an API since everything done outside is with XML and not interfacing with the actual program running and the memory it uses unless it is a PART of the program, aka an extension.

at this point due to the nature of FG, this project is dead int he water. the only way to make it work would be if SmiteWorks supplied an area to upload db.xml files so that something could read then as something from online and not as local computer files due to web browser security features. because not everyone would have access to their own webserver to be able to copy and paste the db.xml file to, just to get the character data from.

[shadzar]

After extensive testing it appears FG had lots of errors in the coding of modules. many are not using ANSI or the iso-8859-1 text listed in the XML encoding attribute...


’ is not '



Nature’s Gift
Accursed Invocation has then in description also.. bad '... can’t animate any

anywhere this certain ’ is appearing prevents anything form being done outside of FG with the XMLs since it is not the proper encoding of iso-8859-1.

this makes this widget impossible to create until every ’ in every FG module is replaced with a proper apostrophe thusly '.

not sure if someone coded modules in English-UK setting editor or keyboard layout, but HTML requires English-US, thus why HTML is always in English-US words like color not colour because it requires exact syntax.

so while FG and software made to emulate FG like Engineer Suite can convert these characters, there is too many UTF characters throughout FG products for any HTML interpreter to be able to read the XML properly.

no purchased module could be loaded or used, and everything would have to be typed by hand for this widget to be possible if the products in DMs Guild and FG store are not edited to use the correctly encoded character sets.

[LordEntrails]

anywhere this certain ’ is appearing prevents anything form being done outside of FG with the XMLs since it is not the proper encoding of iso-8859-1.

Perhaps posting this in the 5E bug thread or the House of Healing (depending if you have found it in only 5E products) with details such as which modules will raise the awareness so that they get on the list to be fixed, and more importantly, the process get corrected to stay true to ISO-8859-1.

Of course, DMsG products would have to reach out each author/converter.

[shadzar]

(depending if you have found it in only 5E products)

Well i know for a fact it is present here https://www.dmsguild.com/product/200586/Hex-Witch--5E-Player-Class

but that doesn't mean anything. FG is exporting the data as not ISO-8859-1 since it is just taking what it gets in any "string" and assuming it is formatted correctly when making a save file, without forcing the encoding to that which it is claiming to be.

i don't know how i would report that? FG fails to export as proper encoding because it isn't checking extensions and modules for proper coding when it loads them? you wold know those things beter than me, and have the information here in this thread to report it. :)

it could be in anything and as long as FG fails to check to make sure it is saving only ISO-8859-1 characters, then it could cause any manner of problems be it saving the module to begin with as an export, or saving a game file as a db.xml...

FG should really be handling all the proper encoding if it insists the XML files are of that encoding is best i can tell. /shrug

since FG doesn't check for proper encoding prior to exporting or saving, it could be present in any product of any ruleset.

[LordEntrails]

Well i know for a fact it is present here https://www.dmsguild.com/product/200586/Hex-Witch--5E-Player-Class

but that doesn't mean anything. ...

since FG doesn't check for proper encoding prior to exporting or saving, it could be present in any product of any ruleset.
No way to know for sure that module is actually being exported by FG and not created using one of the various external tools. Comparing the listed authors of the PDF and FG versions, I can see that it's converted by Rob Twohy, I will send him a DM and point him to this discussion. It could be that he's being given the file in something like Word, or it could be a copy/paste from PDF issue or...

But, raising the issue and asking the questions and pointing the correct people (in this case, Rob) to it, they can decide if its a big enough issue to warrant investigating their process and what it might take to resolve. If it were an official FG product, we could go to SW on it, but since it's not, it will really be up to Rob.

[shadzar]

No way to know for sure that module is actually being exported by FG

oh but it is. because when you save a campaign or it autosaves, FG is doing the export from RAM to the db.xml, and that is where i found this inside a db.xml. So FG is most certainly exporting it to a file and not validating that all the characters are ISO-8859-1.

so it wouldn't have to be everyone checking, for all we know Par5e could be the root cause, but as long as FG saves any files with non-ISO-8859-1 characters, then FG itself holds some of the blame for saying a file is ISO-8859-1 when it is not.

it means it also doesn't validate if the incoming modules are the encoding they claim to be.

[shadzar]

complete rewrite for a 2.0 version in progress. some features currently lost but seeking to return them.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/337633411

rewrite makes it possible in the future for even Pathfinder and other rulesets versions... i think?

*Note: this version still only compatible with 5e at this time. other versions will come later after the 5e version is finished. Reason for this being, the idea was requested for 5e first.

[celestian]

(we discussed having your tool set the visible person based on initiative settings)

Shad, here is how I determine who has initiative for a extension I have. You would just need to replace "setInitiativeIndicator()" with your trigger.

(This is some snippets of code I use to place a widget on a token to more visually show me who has initiative. I can barely see the white ring on many tokens... this resolved it for me but...)



function onInit()
if User.isHost() then
DB.addHandler("combattracker.list.*.active", "onUpdate", updateInititiativeIndicator);
updateAllInititiativeIndicators();
end
end

-- update has initiative first time start up
function updateAllInititiativeIndicators()
for _,vChild in pairs(CombatManager.getCombatantNodes()) do
local bActive = (DB.getValue(vChild,"active",0) == 1);
setInitiativeIndicator(getHasInitiativeWidget(vChi ld),bActive);
end
end
-- update has initiative for specific user
function updateInititiativeIndicator(nodeField)
local nodeCT = nodeField.getParent();
local bActive = (DB.getValue(nodeCT,"active",0) == 1);
setInitiativeIndicator(getHasInitiativeWidget(node CT),bActive);
end

[shadzar]

its ALIVE!

as seen on https://www.twitch.tv/geoquester and https://www.twitch.tv/rob2e

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zkt15v6XWYc&t=1h18m45s

FG forums cannot properly display time indexed video links... BOOO!

[Ctmega]

Shadzar,

Can I help you test this? I am a regular streamer and would love to help with feedback, etc... Here is my twitch channel:

https://www.twitch.tv/rp_network

Please let me know.

Thanks!

-Mega (Roleplay Network)

[shadzar]

im done. cant see these captcha crap to edit a post and this post might not even go through because of this new captcha crap when i try to quick reply either.. so this is dead now due to FG forums BS.

[shadzar]

(we discussed having your tool set the visible person based on initiative settings)

Shad, here is how I determine who has initiative for a extension I have. You would just need to replace "setInitiativeIndicator()" with your trigger.

(This is some snippets of code I use to place a widget on a token to more visually show me who has initiative. I can barely see the white ring on many tokens... this resolved it for me but...)



function onInit()
if User.isHost() then
DB.addHandler("combattracker.list.*.active", "onUpdate", updateInititiativeIndicator);
updateAllInititiativeIndicators();
end
end

-- update has initiative first time start up
function updateAllInititiativeIndicators()
for _,vChild in pairs(CombatManager.getCombatantNodes()) do
local bActive = (DB.getValue(vChild,"active",0) == 1);
setInitiativeIndicator(getHasInitiativeWidget(vChi ld),bActive);
end
end
-- update has initiative for specific user
function updateInititiativeIndicator(nodeField)
local nodeCT = nodeField.getParent();
local bActive = (DB.getValue(nodeCT,"active",0) == 1);
setInitiativeIndicator(getHasInitiativeWidget(node CT),bActive);
end


maybe this will work, but having to quote, then copy, refresh, Go advanced, then paste the quoted text into a post is stupid. You should be able to Quote and click Go Advanced without some stpid catcha appearing!

i am more interested in the thing you said the other night about


Interface.dialogFileSave() with DB.export() is what I used.

are you saying i should


DB.export(Interface.dialogFileSave() .. "OBS_widget.xml", <what you want to export here>)

:confused:

and if this doesnt post, i have copied it all to notepad to AGAIN paste back into the main "quick reply" section because FG forums are so jacked up and stuck in the 90s.... yup, had to paste, and place this in quick reply to try to post it without some dumb captcha crap. Go Advanced is totally screwed up in these forums now it seems.

[Moon Wizard]

The forums works just fine for me both in quick reply and advanced on both my phone and home machine without captcha. Perhaps a browser/cookie issue on your machine?

JPG

[shadzar]

The forums works just fine for me both in quick reply and advanced on both my phone and home machine without captcha. Perhaps a browser/cookie issue on your machine?

JPG

when i did this:

*Reply with Quote
*Go Advanced

i got this

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/512345903248441345/514503889744298004/Clipboard01.jpg

a captcha from google, with no submit button. even deleted cookies, re-logged in, still got it.

[Moon Wizard]

I understand what you are saying; but I’m just saying that it works fine with Chrome on Windows 10 and Safari on iOS. Something you have set up or one of the programs you are using must be causing it to require captcha; maybe something related to cookies. Try clearing cookies, a different browser, or reviewing your security software.

JPG

[shadzar]

Nope, I just figured out what it was.. nothing on my end changed, what changed is FG Forums now have a lot of stuff on Cloudflare, which i have had the entire domain blocked for over a year.

when i just unblocked it the Next Page, Last Page, etc forum thread controls reappeared since they were also gone, and as you can see the page is a cloudflare page.. so the forums have something that ha changed in the past 36 hours, or CloudFlare itself changed something.

so when you figure out why FG AJAX is now running on CloudFlare, not Google, then you will have it sorted out. ;)

[LordEntrails]

FG forums have been on Cloudflare for years.

[shadzar]

then someone needs to call them and tell them their captcha is missing the submit button for FG forums.

EDIT: and now it is working correctly. it seems google had a problem with the APIs.... this is the danger with using those silly captchas... sure, great for the first time someone signs up, but if it still gets caught running later, it can cause all sorts of problems when a user has already be validated or whatever the forums required when you first signed up.

EDIT 2: it is just something about Celestian's post with the CODE tags that must be doing it... no other post is having this problem. reply with quote that post then go advanced and it gives that captcha....

[shadzar]

Interface.dialogFileSave()

@Celestian, that won't help. it brings up a normal save dialog like dialogFileImport brings up the open dialog.

i need something that will automagically save the file to the open campaign folder.. can't find anything even in launcher.pak that has any sort of global environment variable. its fine for exporting characters, or say loading Syrinscape sounds, but it doesn't help when something is saving at the end of every combat round.

it would work if i could have found the desktopInit type of string for event handlers.. but i have no clue what that is either..

something like...


DB.addHandler("desktop", "onInit".....

so the extension runs only once when the campaign is first loaded, then saved automatically to the campaign folder that was open, then the extension just becomes 3kb of wasted RAM until the campaign is closed and opened again, or /reloaded to prevent excessive disk writes.